Not Quite a Lady

Guest Author - Elizabeth Darrach

Hello, and welcome back! We're finally getting a steady string of days with some gorgeous spring weather. I'm thrilled. Of course, I'll be spending the next two days at least indoors recuperating, but I can still look at it out the windows. This time around, I have three new historicals to share with you.

Lord Sin (Zebra) by Kalen Hughes is up first. Ivo Dauntry has waited six long years to see Georgianna Exley again, and what he sees isn't what he was expecting. But he still wants her, and now she's a widow. He even gets around her rule of one night only. He just has to convince her that six nights aren't enough for her either. Oh, and save her from someone trying to kill her. This one was okay for me. Ivo seems quite put off by her behavior early on, which made me question why he wanted her so much. And George just wasn't my favorite heroine. This one gets three of Cupid's five arrows.

The Duke's Indiscretion (Avon) by Adele Ashworth is next. Colin Ramsey, Duke of Newark, has been dying to meet Lottie English, his opera star crush. The meeting isn't quite what he'd hoped, but then he meets Lady Charlotte Hughes, and his world turns upside down. It took me a while to get into this one, and even then, I know I've enjoyed other of Ms. Ashworth's books more. Charlotte doesn't appear to have much in the way of conflict going on early in the story, and even later, her conflict isn't very convincing. And, with his infatuation with Lottie from the beginning, is there really any doubt that Colin will come to love his new bride? If this was another author, it wouldn't seem so average. Being Ms. Ashworth's, it's disappointing. This one has only earned three arrows as well.

Not Quite a Lady (Avon) by Loretta Chase is last this week, with the latest of her Carsington brothers, Darius. He's the brilliant, logical one. And a younger son. So his father has bought a property that needs some TLC, and challenges him to make it work in under a year. Lady Charlotte Hayward is one of his new neighbors, quite attractive, and definitely off limits. She's quite adept at maneuvering so the men her father and others put in her path are diverted away from her, and she's had a lot of practice at it over the years, so she can keep her painful secret. This one is delightful, with Darius and Charlotte both trying hard not to get too deeply involved, and both unable to help themselves. Even knowing her secret and who's working against her and Darius, the characters will keep you reading and falling in love right along with them. This one is a definite keeper. It's earned four and a half arrows.